Boca — Restaurant in Winter Park

Seven weekends of Magical Dining Month. Seven restaurants chosen for amazing menu effort. Too many restaurants phone it in for MDM and offer chicken (boring) or a cedar-plank salmon (yawn). Out of literally hundreds of restaurants, you have to stand out somehow. I ranked all the restaurants, and sought out the best of the best.

Boca was hands down one of those menus that was the best of the best. Identified that, made my reservations, and showed up with some friends to chow down. Loved the atmosphere there. It's quaint, rustic, modern, Southern, like a lot of places, they had mismatched wooden boards on the wall. Cute.

We got seated and met our amazing server. Forgot her name, but we were well taken care of the whole time. Refills coming all night, checked on just enough. Loved her. Now, for the food.

Apps

Brie & Apple Flatbread (brie, granny smith apples, pickled red onions, sweet aioli, roasted air-chilled chicken). This was a lovely little flatbread. A little soft and soggy, but constructed very well. Creamy brie, the bite of the apple, the acid from the onions, the sweetness of the aioli, and a very rare things for this kind of app, meat! A smattering of chicken which made this whole thing feel like a worth-in app to have ordered. Big fan.

I also got to try the Lobster Wontons (cream cheese, scallions, citrus soy glaze dipping sauce). I will say, I didn't get a lot of lobster. I understand why, but I just wish there was more in there. That being said, they were very nice krab rangoons, very crispy, and the sauce was bright and zippy. No issues here.

Mains

Mojo Brined Pork Chop (shoestring potatoes, chorizo-chickpea ragout, spinach). This was a thicc-boi pork chop, and it was cooked perfectly! Honestly, my whole experienced hinged on the cook of this chop, so when I dug into this, I knew it was going to be a five star experience. I don't think there was any spinach in this, but the ragout was deep and a good pairing for this chop. Shoestrings for texture, and boom, I was very happy.

I also got to try the Ginger Encrusted Salmon (brioche crumbs, creamy edamame-corn succotash). Very fascinating. Salmon was cooked nicely. I hadn't seen anything like the ginger-y brioche bread crumbs before. But it worked. Not too gingery, a little crunch was left in those crumbs, and it only enhanced the bites of salmon. What fun!

Desserts

Finally, my favorite dessert, the Tres Leches (vanilla rum cake, strawberries). Amazing presentation in a little tea cup. Lots of leche! This was a very well-saturated cake. But it held up, it didn't disintegrate from all the leche. Very well done. It was a little too sweet for me, but I'm sure some people will love that, too. Lovely.

I also got to try the Plum & Fig Galette (thyme, vanilla bean ice cream). This was a MDM special on their menu, and you don't see many galettes around town, so this was extra special. Crispy, flakey pastry. Super thinly sliced plums, easy to cut through with your fork. And a vanilla bean ice cream, you could even see the flecks, that melts a little and fills your pastry like a bowl. So delicate and delicious.

Overall, wow. I had gone from literally not knowing Boca existed to now I have to go back and try other items on their traditional menu. Thanks so much, Boca, for your unique, creative MDM menu. I am grateful, and I...

Great place to go if you're looking for clever, interesting and delicious food without the expense.

My wife and i went to Boca for our anniversary through Magical Dining - a yearly event that restaurants participate in where you get a special menu of items to choose from for one low price.

Boca participates, so we booked a reservation. Even though it's in a busy part of Winter Park, we had no problem finding a space - we did walk a block or so, but that's what you do in that area. It's very well lit and the foot traffic is heavy, so no dark corners to worry about.

Anyway, the restaurant was packed (Friday night), but as we had a reservation, they seated us immediately. Within seconds our servers were upon us... It sounds ominous, but was actually very refreshing. Make sure to book a reservation for Friday and Saturday nights.

Boca is a casual dining place with upper class food. The servers had typical server shirts and wore jeans - so no need to get out the tux and pearls.

It was a bit unusual that the managers seem to dress in regular street clothes and didn't have a name tag or anything. At one point a guy stopped by the table and asked if everything was good. My wife and I said everything was delicious and the man smiled, thanked us for coming and walked off. "I assume he worked here", was my wife's next statement.

We ordered our drinks first, (obviously) and they took a little while to get to the table. The bar was super busy, so there was a bit of a wait. Not too bad - the longest wait always seems to be for the first drinks anyway...

The noise level from the sheer number of people in the place was a bit distracting - but that too subsided when the dinner rush calmed down.

Our food came out pretty fast - we each got an appetizer, entree and dessert. The presentation was excellent - the flavor was even better.

Many times 'clever' presentation means average food (that's been my experience), but not at Boca. Everything looked inviting and was fantastic.

The portions were a good size, but not so much to need a to-go box - even though I'd love to have some Boca leftovers...

So the service was very good, the atmosphere (once the dinner rush calmed) was laid back and friendly. The food was really, really good. All being said, we would definitely go back - probably booking a reservation before the dinner rush or maybe for lunch.

So make reservations for the 'rush hours' and expect it to be busy during those times. But it's...

Let’s start with the positive, our waitress Emily (Emilyyy OG) was fantastic. She was fun, attentive, and tried to make sure our experience was positive in every way she could. The atmosphere is always fun here, and the cocktails never miss. The pistachio pesto flat bread is always a hit (I will say it was extremely wet this time, and this is hands down my favorite thing on the menu).

The food completely missed the mark this time. I’m not sure if there is a new chef working, but the shrimp and grits were AWFUL! Just one small taste of the rue and I literally gagged from how salty it was. Everyone at our table agreed it was inedible, and although we are not the type to complain we let the waitress know and suggested she had a small taste herself. The waitress said there was no way she can let us eat that and ran it back to the kitchen. Since the other item we ordered was already out one member of our party ate to avoid letting the food get cold while we awaited the replacement dish, the seafood scampi.

It came out around 15 mins later, and this one had 0 seasoning, and just tasted like a bowl of noodles and unsalted butter. We frequently eat at Boca and this is nothing like what we’re used to. We decided to give up and sent the dish back so we could get going as it was getting late. The waitress asked us to wait so she could have her manager come to apologize and this is where things really made a turn for the worse (as if the poor food was not enough). The manager on duty, Heather was absolutely dismal in addressing our experience. She came and said “I heard the scampi also wasn’t any good, it must be that the chef was trying to undercompensate for the salt since you complained the first dish was too salty. She tried the dish and didn’t see anything wrong with it.” At this point we were shocked that the manager of all people would try to suggest we are just being too picky and there was truly nothing wrong with what they served us.

She drops the bill at the table and didnt do a single thing to remedy the situation. I have had better customer service at an Olive Garden. Not that we were looking for anything special, but having an experience like this at a restaurant that is not cheap is bizarre. Not a comped drink, free dessert, nothing but a sour taste in our mouth.

Not sure if it’ll be worth giving this place another go after our experience with Heather. It’s sad because this was easily our favorite Park...